New York Law Journal, "N.Y. Judge Certifies Antitrust Class Action Against Microsoft"

          A Manhattan judge has certified a class action suit against Microsoft Corp. on behalf of consumers who charge they were harmed by the software maker's anti-competitive conduct.
          Supreme Court Justice Karla Moskowitz ruled the plaintiffs in Cox v. Microsoft, 105193/00, had adequately shown that a class action would be the best way to provide redress to individual consumers.
          "Clearly, the difficulty and expense of proving the dollar amount of damages an individual consumer suffered, versus the comparatively small amount that any one consumer would expect to recover, indicates that the class action is a superior method to adjudicate this controversy," she wrote in a July 29 decision that was recently released.
          Among targeted practices was Microsoft's requirement that computer manufacturers agree to pay a licensing fee to Microsoft for each computer shipped, regardless of the operating system. The practice discouraged manufacturers from installing any operating systems besides Microsoft's. Consumer plaintiffs have claimed such practices harmed them by denying them choice and inflating prices.
          The plaintiffs are represented by J. Douglas Richards of Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman, Daniel Hume of Kirby McInerney & Squire and David Stellings of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein.